Steve Balsamo Biography

Steve Balsamo was born in Wales om 19 may 1971. His father, a chef from Venice, his mother Welsh.

 At school, Steve was dismissed from the choir, being told he could not sing. He channelled his creative leanings into art and attended art school to specialise in painting.

 At the age of 17, Steve once again started singing and songwriting again, forming several bands that toured pubs and clubs doing renditions of classic rock songs.He had jobs that included a stint as a piano remover and working at Port Talbot steelworks - in between bouts on the dole - taken to support himself whilst gigging, Steve secured a place at Bristol University to study Graphic Art. He turned it down to accept a place at a local music college, where he fatefully played the role of Jesus in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar. In the meantime, Steve picked up a guitar, taught himself to play and continued to write songs.

Around this time, Steve attended a workshop in Cardiff run byThe Prince's Trust for unemployed musicians. So successful was Steve's performance, that he was asked to open The Prince's Trust Masters of Music at Hyde Park in 1996. The Who ,Alanis Morissette Eric Clapton Bob Dylan were among those who entertained the 150,000 fans that day.

After a friend mentioned to Steve that Andrew Lloyd Webber was looking for a performer to play the part of Jesus. Seizing the opportunity to showcase his 3½ octave range voice, Steve was determined to get the part. Despite his lack of West End experience, Steve won the role of Jesus from the thousands who auditioned, leading to a memorable headline about the origins of the Son of God. His performance was a revelation and his face was seen on bus shelters across the capital.

On one television performance from the show he not only had Andrew Lloyd Webber weeping, but also managed to sell £160,000 worth of tickets to "Superstar" in half an hour.

 Steve signed to Columbia Records and started writing and recording his first album, "All I Am", which was released in September 2002 to great reviews. The debut single from the album, "Sugar for the Soul" even cracked the UK Top 40, was a frequently-requested favourite on The Box music channel and led to a TOTP2 appearance for Steve. The second single from the album, "All I Am", even became Ken Bruce's single of the week on Radio 2.

 Since leaving Clumbia Records , Steve has formed a band with some friends from back home in Wales. They have called themselves The Storys and they consist of Andy Collins (bass/vocals/songwriting), Dai Smith (guitar/vocals/songwriting), Alan Thomas (keyboards), Brian Thomas (drums/percussion) and Rob Thompson (guitar/vocals/songwriting) and they have a sound that is described as "raw, rocking, with influences of the Eagles Led Zeppelin and Badfinger".

The band were personally chosen to support Elton John during his 2006 stadium tour. Their debut album has been released on Korova Records.

 Steve and Storys bandmate Rob have also been working on progrock project CD ChimpanA, which Steve's vocals feature on. In January 2009, Birmingham artists Dave Cureton and Adam Gough released their debut album, "IOEarth" on which Steve appears as guest vocalist on three tracks. Steve can be seen on their myspace in a brief interview about their unusual style of "genre-defying" music. Also noteworthy is that one of Steve's IOEarth tracks marks the first time that his Mongolian throat singing talents have been showcased on any album. The album is available exclusively via the band's official website


https://stevebalsamo.blogspot.com/